Ventilating the coop?

[neo71665]

I haven't found any prefab coops that will work in our heat here in Texas. My husband built an open air coop/run combo (very similar to Carolina coop). Our local feed store (family-owned) occasionally has some coops ready built for purchase by a local craftsman. They are larger than prefab coops, and have good ventilation. -might check with a local feed/garden store and see if they have something like that. If you keep the one you have, definitely add vents - and I agree with the suggestion of removing the entire triangle and covering with hardware cloth. When it gets up over 100, I hook a mister to the water hose and plug in a fan or two aimed on the run. This keeps cool blowing on them.

Yep my coop is only solid on 3 sides. The whole front is open. The back wall is open 12 inches down from the roof all away across. I can close the front off easy enough with a tarp in the winter but so far I haven't needed to.

 

[Thatscluckinggreat]

@Scareab Definitely some good ideas here to salvage your current coop. Seems with the Texas heat, they will require adding some major venting! Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[AnnPann]

Since these suggestions might take some time and I'm guessing it's still hot, I'd suggest setting up a nesting box outside the coop for them to lay in, in the run, in a shaded area. Block them out of the coop during the day to avoid any more losses, until you can get these updates complete. Mine are pretty laid back about where they lay - it's just a cat litter box in their run.

 

[rosemarythyme]

To re-interate the idea of remodeling the whole thing into a larger coop both for ventilation and to add needed space as integrating another bird takes space:

To turn it from 2 small "boxes" (tiny coop above tiny run) into 1 bigger "box" you'll want to remove as much of the inside coop wall as possible, plus the floor. Take out the old roosts too.

Nests might be able to stay as is, or may need to be relocated elsewhere or replaced - depends on the structure of the coop and how things inside stack up once done.

Run a new roost(s) lengthwise or widthwise across the newly open space, depending on how much roost is needed. Ideally you’d like 12” per bird but 10” can suffice in many cases.

Board up some of the external wire walls so that the roost area is protected from winds and rain. Do NOT fully cover up all the wire, you need ventilation and natural light, so at the very least a few inches under the roofline should remain open. If your climate allows for it, you can leave entire walls open with just the mesh, or make it convertible for the season by covering up open walls for winter, and then uncovering for summer.

Example of a modified prefab: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/my-renovated-prefab-coop.1440258/